If You Have a Minute
by Haze Hades Noire
Summary: Sun and Neptune have an argument after their first match of the Vytal festival. Neptune just wants Sun to trust him, but past events make that difficult for the Faunus. To make matters worse, something happens that leads Sun to fall for another before Neptune realizes his true feelings for him. Will Neptune be able to win his best friend back? WARNINGS: YAOI, RACISM, SOME SUN/MERC


If You Have a Minute

 **Chapter 1**

"Damn it Sun! You know I'm right! Don't look away when I'm talking to you!"

"I know! I get it, ok Sage? But what do you want me to—?"

"I swear to god, if you finish that sentence, I'll to kick your ass off this team myself. You know exactly what you need to do. Whether you want to do it or not is up to you. But don't make me remind you that you're this team's leader now. Start acting like it."

The green haired man poked Sun right in the chest as he brought himself closer to his leader's face. Sage's voice started to get quieter, but the dangerous glint in those yellow eyes didn't go away.

"You know as well as I do that he fucked up," Sage continued. "He almost cost us our place in the tournament! I'm not saying that I didn't make any mistakes too, but at least mine weren't on purpose."

With that, the dark skinned man walked away stoically, leaving the blonde haired leader feeling inadequate. He was looking down at the dirt street with a conflicted look on his tan face as he mulled over the words Sage left him before he started to walk sullenly down the rows of colorful, loud stands selling food and trinkets for the Vytal festival. People were bustling all around him playing the festival games or watching the shows in order to pass the time between the main event that the Vytal festival was known for: the Vytal Festival Tournament, where hunters and huntresses all around the world of Remnant came to test their fighting skills against others.

It was an exciting time in the city of Vale and it kept the people buzzed and energized. However, Sun managed to ignore everyone's energy and continued to narrowly avoid bumping into the bodies in the crowd in favor of staying deep in thought.

 _Well, Sage wasn't wrong._

Flashbacks of his team's match against team NDGO just less than an hour ago appeared in his mind. He had to physically stop himself from face palming in public when images of Neptune, his light blue haired, super popular and flirt-with-every-girl-in-the-city of a best friend and teammate, cowering up a cliff for almost the entire fight because he was afraid of the water. It was downright embarrassing! That idiot basically made the match a 4 versus 3.1! Neptune may have delivered the winning blow and, yeah, sure, their team may have won, but it was all because of dumb luck! Now, not only was Sage mad at him for not doing anything about it afterwards, it felt like everything that happened in that match was Sun's fault for being a shitty leader. Then Neptune had the audacity to not even notice how he felt and, instead, went on to flirt with the all-female team just like he had right before the match.

It wasn't until he noticed a few passersby giving him weird, fearful looks that he realized he was scowling very noticeably. He tried to relax his face back into a neutral position but the anger he felt in his chest made it very difficult. The idea of being ignored by Neptune in favor of girls they never met before just served to piss off the blonde leader.

 _Hold up a minute Sun._ He thought to himself. _There's no way I'm madder at Neptune for flirting with the enemy than almost royally fucking up their team's chances against said enemy. I mean, he flirts with anything that walks and has boobs. It's been a thing with him since forever and I've never been mad at him about it…have I? Nah. No way. I'm just mad because we almost lost in our first round of the tournament. Yeah, that's it. There's not even a good reason why I'd be mad be mad at him for flirting with people. I mean, who cares right? Why should I keep thinking about whose pants Neptune wants to get in anyway? Damn it, shut up brain!"_

The blonde haired leader continued his pondering with a hand on his chin and an equally as blonde, furry monkey tail scratching at his scalp as he tried to come up with any absurd idea as to why he was so focused on his best friend's flirting habits. However, he wasn't able to finish that train of thought before he felt something hit him on the back of the head, really hard.

"AUGH! What the hell!?" He exclaimed as he brought his tail to rub against the injured area. At closer inspection, he could see some of the furs of his tail stained red. He was bleeding.

He quickly turned as he reached for his weapon, getting ready for a fight. He wasn't in the best mood right now and letting off a bit of steam at some street thug thinking he was the shit felt really good right about this moment.

He was just about to unfold his collapsible staff before he froze in place at the sight before him.

Just a few feet in front of him stood a middle aged woman with another rock in one hand and an arm protectively around a boy who the blonde teen assumed was her son. She was hunched over the boy as if trying to block him from harm's way, her hands trembling as if she was considering whether or not it was worth it throwing another rock at him. However, that wasn't the reason why Sun had suddenly stopped his movements. That wasn't the reason why Sun's chest constricted around his heart in a way he hadn't felt in a while.

It was the look on the woman's face.

She was frightened beyond relief. That was plain to see, but behind that, Sun could see other things. Sun could see her anger. He could see how her fear twisted into agony at the corners of her mouth. He could see the petrified look in her eyes slowly melted into fury. But the one thing that Sun noticed the most, was how all of those emotions, all of that rage and hate being pushed towards the surface, was being directed right at him.

Sun wasn't unfamiliar with the look he was being given. He had to deal with people giving him that same look for almost his entire life, but even now, all he wanted to do was run away. His body wouldn't let him, however. The familiar fear kept him rooted in place as it used to long ago, unable to utter a word. It felt like a while ago since Sun had to deal with this kind of situation. He didn't know what to do anymore. His body was torn between running away and getting ready to fight, to defend himself. He didn't even move when he saw people moving towards the two, their faces stony, getting ready to defend the family. Getting ready to defend them from him.

It felt like an eternity to him before anyone talked, before anyone moved. He couldn't even think of anything to do or say before he felt another rock hit him on his left cheek, almost catching his eye. Sun winced, bringing a hand to where he was struck.

"MONSTER!" yelled the woman, tears starting to form in her eyes. "MONSTER! THAT'S WHAT ALL OF YOU FAUNUS ARE! MONSTERS! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND! GET OUT OF HERE! GET AWAY FROM US!"

The woman started to bawl as she cried on her son's shoulder. This only served to rile up the already forming crowd. Men and women started throwing rocks at his direction as well, all the while yelling things such as "Monster!" and "Filthy faunus!" It didn't seem to matter that he was the leader of team SSSN. They didn't care that just an hour ago, thousands of people were screaming his name in adoration after watching he and his team claim victory in their first round of the Vytal tournament. All they saw was a Faunus, someone different from them. It took only a few more well placed hits to finally get Sun to snap out of it and finally come to a decision. He collapsed his staff, clipped it onto his belt and bolted.

He ran away, down the streets of the Vytal Festival, not caring where he was going, as long as it was away from where he was before. The colorful sights and people started to blur together as he wove around every cart, dodged every person, tears springing from his dark grey eyes.

 _Damn it, don't cry! Don't fucking cry! Don't listen to them. You're stronger than this. You've always been stronger than this!_

The young Faunus started furiously rubbing the wetness on his face away with his arm, still continuing to run. He tried his best to keep the tears from falling but for every thought that told him stop, another came into his head screaming, "Monster! That's what you are isn't it?" It only served to make him run even faster.

It was soon that no matter how hard he tried, tears kept blurring his vision, keeping him from seeing where he was going. That didn't stop him though. Sun lost track of how long he was running for and it wasn't until he rounded one more corner and crashed into someone that he finally stopped moving, his body crumpling to the ground.

Dazed and out of breath, it took Sun a bit to be able to sit up. He rubbed his head and groaned at how much it throbbed. He must have bashed his head against the ground when he fell. Today just wasn't his day, but at least getting the wind knocked out of him stopped him from crying apparently. He was eternally grateful for at least not looking a blubbering mess in front of a complete stranger.

With that helpful thought, the blonde teen wiped away the excess liquid from his eyes and continued to gather his bearings until he finally noticed a hand stretched out in front of him. Slowly looking up, he noticed the red and black jacket first. It was covering a white collared shirt and black tie and the combo almost hid this person's strong build. A little further up, Sun's vision was blocked by the glare of the sun and the only thing he could make out were this stranger's glinting, yellow tinted goggles and…

 _Light…blue…hair._

Desperately, the blonde Faunus turned his slightly towards the ground, hoping against hope that the man's shadow and his own wild hair managed to hide most of the bruises that would certainly be evident on his face by now. He damn well felt them.

 _Son of a fucking bitch, not him. Not now. FUCK! What did I ever do to deserve—"_

"Oh, um…hey Sun," Neptune said sheepishly, but giving no indication to have noticed how injured Sun noticed.

 _Oh thank Dust, at least one thing went right today._

"I didn't think I'd be bumping into you this soon," the blue haired teen continued. "No pun intended. I mean, not that bumping into you is bad or anything! I just mean…well…I um, bumped into Sage a little while ago and he gave me the impression that the two of you weren't exactly…happy, with my performance during our fight with team NDGO and I just wanted to say I'm sorry! Really, really sorry! I'll do better the next round, I swear!"

And Neptune kept going on and on. Sun almost couldn't believe it. The coolest and most collected dude of all of Haven academy, the unofficial heart throb of the kingdom of Mistral, was blabbering like a complete idiot just because he wanted his forgiveness. His approval. If it wasn't for the fact that Sun was just running away from a group of Faunus hating douchebags looking to lob stones at him, he probably would have laughed. He wasn't used to this. Who was he to deserve an apology from someone like Neptune? He wasn't anyone special. Not in his books anyway. Apologies from men like Neptune were meant for someone deserving of his kindness. He wasn't one of them.

 _Look at him,_ interjected a mocking voice in his head. _Getting all stressed about making you mad, thinking you're worth the breath. Why should he even care about what you think? How you feel? He doesn't know who you really are. What will you do when he finds out? He's only your friend because he doesn't know. You're exactly what everyone says you are, a wild, out of control, mons—"_

Sun had to bite his lip, hard, to stop himself from finishing that thought, silencing the malicious voice in his head. That's not who he was anymore. He was a hunter-in-training. Someone who's sworn to protect the people when they couldn't protect themselves. Protect them from real monsters. Monsters like the Grimm, like Roman Torchwick…like the White Fang. And he'd never go back. Ever.

 _But that doesn't mean I don't deserve all of the good things coming to me. It doesn't mean I like myself any better. All that means is that I've acknowledged that I've fucked up, but some things you can't change, no matter how hard you try. Some things, you can't take back._

That thought lingered with him.

Not wanting to continue his internal guilt session, he finally forced his attention to what his best friend was saying. He didn't know how long he was lost in his own thoughts for, but somehow, Neptune was still going.

"…and I'm a lousy friend and teammate for letting you guys down like that, but no matter what you think, you're wrong. I am so not afraid of the water, no matter what anyone else says! You better not believe them Sun! But maybe you could hold some training exercises at the beach or something, just the two of us! You know, just so we can get used to fighting in that kind of terrain. I'm just not used to it. Yea that's it."

"Neptune?"

"Yea that would be fun, we could even bring a bunch of stuff to make it fun training!"

"Neptune…"

"Or we could just sit around the sand? Get a tan? And then maybe hold off on the swimming for maybe like the next training day at the beach? Or the one after. Doesn't that sound—?"

"NEPTUNE!"

"Shit! Don't yell at me like that Sun! I'm right here. What's up?"

Sun sighed at his friend's obliviousness. How he was the famous womanizer of Haven academy, he'd never understand.

 _But he does look kind of cute when he's groveling,_ He thought suddenly.

One pause.

Another.

 _Wait…no...that's not what I…what!?_

But before he could even question his own mind, he noticed Neptune from above him raise an eyebrow at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

"…Just help me up, dumbass," He said ever so eloquently.

"Wow, no need to be rude, oh captain my monkey captain," Neptune responded good-naturedly as he offered his hand to Sun a second time.

Sun visibly flinched at the mention of his Faunus heritage as he took Neptune's hand into his, his previous mental slip up completely forgotten. Thankfully, Neptune didn't seem to notice. He kept his head facing the ground, still not willing to look his best friend in the eye.

"I'm not a monkey," Sun responded, somewhat agitated, quickly turning around once his feet were back on the ground, feigning to dusting off his white collared jacket.

Neptune didn't say anything. In fact, minutes rolled by and still, no one talked. It was weird. Neptune, unless he was studying, couldn't go seconds without bothering him with talk of all of his current conquests, all of his _future_ conquests, his clothes shopping (Not that his opinion mattered anyway. According to Neptune he was fashion retarded. He was just the only one, other than Scarlet, that could put up with it), his hair products, etc. Basically, all the typical cool, popular guy sort of stuff that Sun had no interest in.

Which was why something about this situation felt off. Normally, the blue haired teen would at least make another monkey joke, believing that his Faunus friend was ok with it. He wasn't, but he'd never tell Neptune that.

The silence was starting to get to the blonde leader. This whole situation was awkward and uncomfortable. Sun just wanted to get away from it all. He was just so done with today and he couldn't even remember why he was mad at Neptune in the first place. He just wanted to get back to his dorm room, take a hot, soothing shower and just go to bed, never mind it being just two in the afternoon.

"Thanks…for the lift," Sun started without turning around. "I guess I'll uh…be on my way. See ya later?"

However, just when after he got a few feet away, he felt something tug at his sleeve. Sun, thinking it was one of the people from the mob, was about to shove the offender away, but stopped when he heard the voice of his best friend.

"Sun…stop it."

Confused, Sun stopped moving.

"I don't…what do you mean? Stop what?"

It was then he felt a stinging sensation at the back of his head and he hissed. He wrapped his tail around the offending hand and yanked it away.

"Augh, what the shit, Neptune! That hurt!"

"Then cut the crap," Neptune countered, a stony edge in his voice.

"Son of a bitch," Sun complained, his head still stinging. "I don't know—"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'M THAT MUCH OF A RETARD!? WHO DID IT!?"

"Neptune, I really don't know what you're talking about!" Sun complained desperately.

"TURN AROUND AND TELL ME WHY THE HELL YOU'RE BLEEDING LIKE A FUCKING RIVER DOWN THE BACK OF YOUR NECK!"

Before Sun could even remember the wound on the back of his head, he felt Neptune forcefully pull at his shoulder and in an instant, his dark gray eyes met the brightest blue. He could see a slew of emotion in his friend's eyes alone, surprise, disappointment, hurt (that one Sun didn't understand), but the most prominent of them all, anger. A lot of people seemed to be angry at him lately.

"Neptune," Sun started. "Look, it's nothing, really."

"Nothing?" Neptune seethed. "We clearly have two completely different definitions of 'nothing'! You see, nothing to me means _not_ seeing bruises the size of fucking baseballs on your face! Nothing, insinuates I don't find blood on both sides of your head! Don't fucking tell me _this_ is nothing, Sun! Why would you even think of hiding this from me? Were you thinking of hiding it from Scarlet and Sage too? Who did this to you?"

Sun was stunned really. That was why his mouth couldn't form words at the moment. He didn't expect Neptune to get all worked up about it. He didn't all the other times he caught Sun trying to sneak back into their dorm room after a similar situation. In the blue haired teen's defense however, it wasn't like Sun ever told him the truth, always playing his injuries off as due to some street thug getting smart or because the store owner of the place he was stealing from was tougher than he looked. Every single time, Neptune seemed to believe him, told him to stop being dumb and helped bandage in wounds, no matter what time it was.

"Would you believe me if I told you I pissed off another street vendor?" Sun asked lamely. It could have been true. For all he know, someone in that mob owned a store.

"No. Just like I never believed you the other times when you tried to pull that excuse. You're like, a master thief. Try again Wukong, and if you start off with, 'there was this street thug in the alley', one more time, I swear to Dust I'm going to do more than press my thumb against that bleeding hole in your head."

 _Oh. So he did know. Damn…,_ the Faunus deadpanned. He kept his mouth shut however, trying fervently to think of another lie.

The silence clearly wasn't the response Neptune was looking for. He closed his eyes and sighed hopelessly, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. At first, Sun was ecstatic, thinking that Neptune was going to just let it go. Then, that excitement left his body when he saw the sadness on his friend's face.

"Fine then. Don't tell me," and Neptune raised his hands as if to surrender, but the bite never leaving his voice. "I guess I thought at some point, you'd just talk to me when you were ready. Now it just looks like that'll never happen. I thought we were friends Sun. Best friends. But maybe I am just that much of a retard."

Without another look at his leader, Neptune started to walk away.

"No! Neptune, please! Wait!" Sun cried, not wanting his friend to leave. Not wanting to be left alone again.

"I'm done waiting!" Neptune yelled as he violently pushed the Faunus away from him, causing him to fall back to the ground with a thud. Neptune couldn't seem to care less. "When are you going to stop lying to me Sun? I just want to help!"

It was when he fell to the ground for the second time today, much harsher than the first time, that Sun felt something inside of him break. He could feel the anxiety he was trying to control finally bubble towards the surface as rage. What right did Neptune have to force him to open up? They were his feelings. His problems. Not Neptune's. Now he wasn't sure anymore why he tried to stop his friend from leaving. He definitely didn't need another person to push him around.

Before the blue haired teen could move again, the Faunus quickly jumped to his feet and clocked Neptune in the face.

"I DON'T _NEED_ YOUR HELP! NO ONE _ASKED_ FOR YOUR HELP!" Unable to stop himself, Sun went in for another punch only to hit air as he felt a body shove him painfully into a brick wall, an arm pressed just below his neck, keeping him in place.

Neptune's face was close. Very close. Sun could smell the expensive cologne Neptune always insisted on buying, always trying to convince the Faunus that all the chicks loved it but Sun always saying that on the battlefield, the enemy would be able to smell him miles away. He could see all the little scars that had accumulated on Neptune's face, each one telling a story of a hunt he and Neptune had gotten through, together. He was just so close, it was hard not to see why all the ladies literally swooned all over this guy.

He felt the arm pinning him up the wall start pressing more painfully on his clavicles, pulling him out of his thoughts.

 _Right, I'm still mad at the fucker._

The blonde Faunus tried desperately to claw himself out of the vice grip, but his friend wouldn't let up.

"Aww, does that hurt?" Neptune asked mockingly.

"Tsk, no," replied Sun snottily, completely lying through his teeth.

"Damn it, Sun! Why do you have to be so stubborn!? I have you pinned to a fucking wall and you still won't talk to me!? What do I have to do to fucking get through to you!?"

"Maybe I don't need 'getting through'! Have you ever thought of that? Maybe I'm fine handling everything on my own!"

"BULLSHIT! Do you really think I'd believe that after seeing all of the crap you go through?"

"YOU DON'T _KNOW_ ANYTHING!"

The answer to Sun's words was Neptune's fist zoom past his face as he felt, more than heard, the punch collide with the wall right next to him with a sickening crunch.

"AND WHO'S FAULT DO YOU THINK THAT IS!? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!? WHY WON'T YOU JUST HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH SO I CAN HELP YOU!?"

"BECAUSE YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND NEPTUNE!"

"WHY NOT!?"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT SOME MONSTER LIKE I AM! BECAUSE I'M JUST SOME STUPID, UNWANTED FAUNUS AND YOU'RE NEPTUNE FUCKING VASILIAS! YOU'RE PERFECT! I'M NOT! ALL OF FUCKING MISTRAL IN LOVE WITH YOU AND HALF THE WORLD HATES ME FOR WHAT I AM. THE ONLY REASON YOU'RE HERE RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME NEPTUNE BUT YOU DON'T KNOW A SINGLE THING ABOUT ME!"

Sun had no idea where that had come from. No, scratch that, he knew exactly where that was coming from, but he never thought he'd ever say it out loud. And by the surprised look on Neptune's face, he didn't see that one coming either.

It wasn't the time to dwell on it though. Sun saw his chance and he took it. While Neptune was processing what had come out of the Faunus' mouth, the blonde leader wrapped his tail around his leg and yanked him off balance, just enough to give Sun some wiggle room to kick his friend in the stomach and off of him.

Before anything else was said, before anything else was done, Sun took off in the direction of dorms, leaving a dazed Neptune alone in the middle of the Vytal festival.

 **A/N** : Hi guys, hope you enjoyed! I look forward to your reviews seeing as this is my first fanfic and I would like to know if you guys think this is worth continuing. What's the point of writing a story if no one wants to read it right? That's just me though. Also, just to let you know, if you guys have any other comments, feel free to tell me. Was it too boring? Too cheesy? Was it hard to follow? Do you think I forgot anything? Stuff like that, and be as harsh as you can. I don't care about flames as long as it's constructive. I want to use everything I can get to improve my writing. Thanks so much for your time guys! Hope to hear from everyone soon.


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